Tracy C. Stuart Raton Hiah School Raton, New Mexico
I I
A Comparison of High School and College Chemistry Courses in New Mexico
Surveys were sent to nine colleges and universities and one junior college. Of these, six replies were received. Included in thesixarr nmaior ~ U N M ~ . a s m anrivatecolleee ll ~ - - ~ - ~ - - - ~universitv ~ (UA), as well as-; technicall; oriented school (NMIMT). $e obtained a 60% reply rate which we feel makes our survey valid. The results of the college replies are summarized by determining the mean for each item on the survey. The items receiving the highest priority, that is 3.0 or above, are given in Table 1. The author feels that the inclusion of many of these items, such as 2, 4, 6, 13, and 14, are strong areuments for a well-rounded, active lab promam. All of the hiih schools respundingdo have lah pro&ams. That ia not to sav that the uther items cannot be helped bv lah work: for surely, communication is one of the maj& fact& in reporting lab experiments. Nor do we feel that these items, also, are not important in the classroom material, hut a combination of the two is called for. Also, since item 1 of Table 1 has the highest ranking, this not only means that we should stress problem solving, but also that we need to communicate and cooperate with our math departments. The comment, from the "Adams State Survey," that perhaps best summarizes the feelings of the college instructors is "I believe it is better to do five tooics well t h a i doing a lot of topics." Also, there was a strong recommendation that if nothine" more.. we.. the hieh school teachers, pruduce students that can think. Since the intention ot'thissurvev was to comDare the hieh school course with what is expectid of our graduates, ~ a b i e 2 eives the items ranked hiehest hv the secondarv teachers. ~ c secondary e schools werechosen a t random with the idea ~
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~
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Table
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1.
3.7
2.
3.5
3.
4.
3.5 3.5
5.
3.3
12.
3.0
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Items Ranked Highest by College lnrtructorr
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1.
that we would survey a broad spectrum of student populations. The number of students ranges from 3000 to less than 100. Thirtv Dercrnt of the school districts in the state were surveyed and of these, 75% returned the surveys. While funding does play an important role in any science program, i t is our intention to limit our survey to the emphasis placed on a topic by the instructor and not how the teaching of that topic is accomplished. We notice that many of the larger schools offer two years of chemistry and this is where the funding, perhaps, plays the biggest role. In examining the 15 highest ranked items on the high school surveys we find first thit the teachers are, in theauthor's opinion, very. o.~ t i n ~ i s t iThis c . is to their credit. In view of all of the problems that are present in our high schools today, the chemistry teachers are really trying to offer the students something more than a watered do& course. Many of the items ranked highest prohahly receive the most emphasis because they are things that can he used almost every day, such as balancing equations. It seems that most of the teachers stick to the basics very well without trying to introduce topics that may be beyond the ability and background of their students. Overall, the survey indicates that the item or topic which needs more emphasis is the mathematical concepts' item. In relating the high school surveys to the college surveys, we find auite a bit of ameement. If we examine Table 3. we see that theie is a need f; change in item 4 "Ability to "se and solve problems involving units of concentration," and item 14 "An understanding of Le Chatelier's hinciple." If we could
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Table 2.
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Items Ranked Highest by High School lnrrructorr
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Ability to relate mathematical conceotr t o Chemistry problem solving. ~bility to carry out accurate measurement in metric system. Ability to balance chemical equations. ~ b i l i to t ~use and solve Droblemr invalvins units of concentration. Understanding of the mole concept.
6.
3.7
7.
3.6
8. 9.
3.6
10.
3.5
~bility to balance chemical equations. ~bility to use symbols and oxidation numberr to write formulas. ~bility to determine and "re gram-molecular weight. Understanding of the mole concept. Ability to relate mathematical concepts t o chemistry Problem solving. Ability to 30lve ma61~0lumeand volume-volume problems. Underrtanding of the basic types of chemical bond6 and how they are formed. Understanding of molar volume. ~bility t o carry out accurate measurement in the c"
